I have been watching the National Basketball Association playoffs these past weeks. When I turned on the television on May 24 to watch Golden State Warriors play the Dallas Mavericks, Golden State Warriors’ basketball coach, Steve Kerr, was having a pre-game-press-conference.
Despite the Warriors being just one win away from their first NBA Finals appearance since 2019, Kerr turned his attention to a deadly mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas just a little more than 300 miles away from the American Airlines Center in Dallas. At least 21 people, including 19 children and two teachers, had died at the hands of a gunman.
“Any basketball questions don’t matter,” Kerr said in a passionate speech ahead of Game 4. “Since we’ve left the shoot-around, 14 children were killed . . . and a teacher. In the last 10 days, we’ve had elderly Black people killed in a supermarket in Buffalo, and we’ve had Asian churchgoers killed in Southern California. Now, we have children murdered at school.”
“When are we going to do something?” Kerr questioned as he slammed his hands on the table in frustration while holding back tears. “I’m so tired of getting up here and offering condolences to the devastated families that are out there. I’m so tired. Excuse me. I’m sorry. I’m tired of moments of silence. Enough.”
“I ask you, Mitch McConnell, I ask all of you senators who refuse to do anything about the violence and school shootings and supermarket shootings – I ask you: are you going to put your own desire for power ahead of the lives of our children and our elderly and our churchgoers?” he said. “Because that’s what it looks like.”
He also mentioned HR8, a bill that would expand background checks for gun purchases. The Democratic-controlled House passed it in 2019, but the measure would need to clear the 60-vote filibuster threshold in the evenly-divided Senate. Republicans, many of whom are backed by the National Rifle Association, have successfully stopped several attempts to impose restrictions on the use and accessability of guns.
“We’re being held hostage by 50 senators in Washington who refuse even to put it to a vote, despite what we, the American people, want,” Kerr said. “They won’t vote on it because they want to hold on to their own power. It’s pathetic.” The coach slammed the table for emphasis several times during his plea.
The 2nd Amendment says, “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” With every right comes corresponding responsibilities. The 2ndAmendment should not and does not prevent a state or the federal government from enacting constraints on the bearing of arms.
Everyone over 16-years-of-age has a right to drive a car; however, there are corresponding obligations – you have to pass a test to prove you can properly drive a car, the car must be registered, you have to have insurance, you cannot drink and drive, you cannot text and drive, and you must wear a seat belt. Why can’t we have similar laws for those who want to buy guns?
Assault weapons and high-capacity magazines have repeatedly been used to commit some of the worst mass shootings in modern U.S. history. They contribute to the daily toll of gun violence in communities around the country. These weapons are made to kill people (weapons of war) that have no place in civilian society. Congress must enact a federal ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines to keep these dangerous weapons out of U.S. communities.
Let us make America safe again. Be pro-life. Too many innocent people have been killed!